Imtiaz Ali recently spoke about portrayal of gender in Hindi cinema and how to make film sets safe for women at the on-going International Film Festival of India. He was accompanied by actors Bhumi Pednekar and Vani Tripathi for the session. While addressing several factors, the filmmaker recalled two incidents involving Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor from the sets of his films Highway and Jab We Met, respectively. He claimed women were safe and are safe in Hindi cinema. He also spoke about casting couch and said, “Let me tell you, if a woman or girl cannot say ‘no,’ her chances of succeeding don’t necessarily increase.”
This, however, didn’t go down well with filmmaker-writer, Vinita Nanda. She took to her Instagram handle to share a strong note and slammed Imtiaz Ali for pontificating about what women face in the entertainment industry.
Vinita Nanda’s note for Imtiaz Ali
Her note read: “Imtiaz Ali should stop pontificating about what women face in the entertainment industry. Naturally, a Kareena Kapoor is safe because she is privileged. And, he surely must know that the casting couch exists! Why has IFFI Goa selected him to speak on behalf of women? Is it to whitewash the truth? If men like him had the courtesy to abstain from speaking o a subject they have no experience about, one will believe that change is indeed taking place.”
Sharing the note, she captioned her post, “It’s shocking to see reports of @imtiazaliofficial making all sorts of statements about women’s issues on an important industry platform like @iffigoa. With zero experience, he should have abstained from speaking instead.”
Imtiaz Ali’s statement at IFFI
Speaking at the film festival, Imtiaz said, “For instance, there was a shot in Jab We Met when the cameraman said that I need a light in the shot at the last moment. Kareena was ready for the shot and on the top berth in a railway compartment. She had to mumble in her sleep in the scene, and we needed extra lights on the berth. I asked her to come down until crew members finished putting the light on. She said that I will keep lying there and they can just put the light on.”
“Three men went up and put it while standing on the lower berth where she was lying down. I asked her, ‘Are you sure and comfortable?’ She didn’t understand what my problem was. She said, ‘Abhi kon utrega aur phir chadhega!’ And that’s because she felt so safe with those three men hovering over her to put the light. Nobody looked at her wrong in any way”, said Imtiaz.
Speaking about what is being done to ensure safety on sets, the filmmaker recalled having sending away crew people from sets for misbehaving. He recalled an incident from Highway and said, “There have been three times in my entire life that I’ve sent people (crew members) back, from different places, from different sets. I am happy that it’s only three. I remember once it happened on the sets of Highway. We were shooting on the rural highway with Randeep and Alia and there were no proper vanity vans back in 2013. Alia had to change, go for nature’s call in different, unusual places.”
He added, “Once I had to send this guy back from the set when he was trying to be around her during that time. So yes, it did happen with me as a filmmaker thrice, but not anymore. Times have changed, changed drastically. Actresses are really safe on the sets. It’s not like that anymore.”
He also spoke about casting couch in Bollywood and said, “I have been a director in the Hindi film industry for 15-20 years. I have heard a lot about the casting couch. A girl comes in, she’s scared, and she feels the need to compromise. Let me tell you, if a woman or girl cannot say ‘no,’ her chances of succeeding don’t necessarily increase. It’s not like if a girl compromises, she’ll definitely get a role.”
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